


Onward, Towards The Inevitable

by redcandle17



Category: Night World - L. J. Smith
Genre: Dominance Struggle, F/M, Pre-Canon, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vampire Bites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 08:30:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13566747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redcandle17/pseuds/redcandle17
Summary: They've always been Jez-and-Morgead.





	Onward, Towards The Inevitable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pyrophane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrophane/gifts).



She was six today. It was her birthday, and Uncle Bracken had gotten her a cake - strawberry, with pretty pink icing and sprinkles - and he'd promised to take her out for ice-cream later. 

"You'll come too, of course," she told Morgead, while Miss Ng handed out slices of cake to the other kids in their class. 

Morgead ate regular food at school so the humans wouldn't get suspicious, but there was no food in his house and he thought Jez was weird for liking some human foods.

Uncle Bracken let Jez get two scoops on her cone since it was her birthday, and it wasn't until she'd devoured the first scoop of delicious chocolate ice-cream that she realized Morgead was just staring at his melting cone. 

"You've got to lick it," she urged. She gave her own ice-cream cone an exaggerated lick. "Like this."

Morgead licked his cone tentatively and his face immediately lit up with utter delight and awe. "It's so good!"

"Told you so."

Morgead got ice-cream all over his face and hands, and Jez laughed at him for being messy like a baby even though he was almost a whole year older than her, but he didn’t seem to care. He was busy trying to stuff the whole cone in his mouth. 

Jez wasn't really embarrassed to have a best friend who didn't even know how to eat ice-cream properly, though, she just liked teasing Morgead.

~

Sixth grade was the first time there was another Night Person in their class at school. Jez didn’t care what the human kids thought about anything or what they did. But Rosalind Long was just as obsessed with kissing and girlfriends-and-boyfriends as the vermin girls, and she was always trying to sit near Morgead or talk to him or just stare at him. Jez could hear the stupid witch's heartbeat speed up whenever she was near Morgead and sometimes even her scent changed. 

It annoyed Jez greatly. 

Morgead was _not_ her boyfriend and Jez was _not_ his girlfriend, and she and he both thought it was funny that their human classmates thought they were girlfriend-and-boyfriend. But Rosalind knew Jez and Morgead stuck together because they were both vampires. Unlike the vermin girls, she was not deterred by Jez. 

Jez supposed she couldn't blame Rosalind for _liking_ Morgead. There were always too few male witches, so she probably couldn't find a boy witch to kiss in her Circle. And Morgead was much cuter than the human boys at their school. Though it wasn't like Jez thought about Morgead that way - it was simply a fact that he was beautiful to look at, just like she was, just like all vampires were. 

"Do you want to kiss her?" she asked Morgead abruptly one afternoon. She didn't specify which ‘her’ she meant.

"Not particularly," Morgead answered. He was giving Jez a cautious look, as if he wasn’t sure he didn't need to be readying for an attack. 

The vermin boys wanted to kiss girls and do all sorts of disgusting things with them. It was practically all they thought about anymore and why Jez tried to stay out of their heads. If Morgead had those kinds of disgusting thoughts, he kept them shielded from her. 

Jez was curious though. "Do you want to kiss anyone?" she demanded.

There was a pause before Morgead answered. "No."

Jez was relieved. "Good," she said. "It's all fuss about nothing."

She leaned in and quickly pressed her mouth to Morgead's to prove it. "See? No big deal."

Morgead's eyes had grown wider and brighter, like he was ready to feed, but he just nodded and agreed with her. "Yeah."

~

What better way to celebrate her sixteenth birthday than to challenge Morgead for leadership? Jez smiled as she issued the challenge in front of the gang.

There was a flash of something in Morgead's emerald green eyes - hurt? betrayal? - before he laughed. "Don't think I'll go easy on you, Jezebel."

Jez scowled. He knew she hated being called her full name. He’d used it precisely because he knew she hated it. He was trying to rile her. The fight had already begun. 

Morgead got to choose the weapons since he was the reigning leader, but that was okay. Jez could match him with any weapon. He grabbed his favorite fighting stick and tossed another stick to her. 

Jez caught it, but her hand had barely closed around the stick before Morgead was attacking. She parried and launched a counter-attack. 

This felt so natural, so right, so good. They'd trained together and sparred against each other for years and so their movements were almost like a dance. But something was different this time. They’d fought in earnest before, but not like this. There was an electrifying edge to the air. 

_Tonight's my night_ , Jez said to herself - and to Morgead. 

The others were shouting and laughing, but they might as well have been miles away. The world had narrowed to just her and Morgead. Jez knew she'd win, but she was surprised when the moment of victory arrived. Morgead had been staring at her so intently that she was surprised at how slow he was in trying to block what ended up being her winning blow. 

He was not a gracious loser. He was furious at her and at himself. 

Jez jabbed the point of the ironwood stick harder into his chest. "Yield, Morgead."

Morgead's green eyes were practically glowing with rage. "I yield," he muttered at last. 

Jez tossed aside her fighting stick with a dramatic flourish. Thistle and Val were cheering her, and she pumped her fists in the air in a display of triumph. Morgead sat up, but before he could finish getting to his feet, Jez planted a booted foot on his chest and shoved him flat onto his back. 

She straddled him. "The change-of-leadership's not done yet."

She felt her canine teeth lengthen as she bent over her vanquished foe. The anticipation of blood sharpened the adrenaline still coursing her body. She sank her fangs into Morgead's neck like he was prey. She could have been more civilized about the submission ritual, but Jez wanted Morgead to feel like prey. Her prey. 

She could feel Morgead's mind as she drank his blood, though he kept his actual thoughts shielded. Jez considered trying to force her way through his mental shield. He'd be so furious at being forced to submit like that. 

She felt his hands on her hips, and she braced herself for his attempt to fling her off of him. But he made no such attempt. Instead he seemed to be holding her tight against him. Jez disengaged her fangs and raised her head so she could see his face. His eyes were still glowing, but not with anger. He was looking at her oddly. 

_Jez_ , he said, and his telepathic voice had a tone as strange as the look in his eyes. 

It made her feel weird. Jez didn’t like it. 

She wrenched herself away from him and sprang to her feet. She faced the others, ignoring Morgead for now. "Come on, guys. Let's go hunting for dinner."

She’d have to keep an extra close eye on Morgead. There was no question that he’d challenge her and try to win back leadership, it was just a matter of when.


End file.
